This syllabus begins with a story, a rather unfortunate story. In a JJay classroom not too long ago, students with similar research interests met together to discuss their ideas and data in small groups. A group of young women doing original research related to gender discrimination and/or gender identities formed one group. All of the students--- four young white women and one Latina--- called themselves feminists, activists interested in gender equity, and/or women committed to women’s rights.

For starters, many of these student researchers imagined Dove soap commercials as a singular source of inspiration and radical impact for women and gender equity. Gender studies will ask you to push past such simplistic solutions and representations. If all that women needed for social equality were new soap and glitzy bathing commercials, there would be no need to even study gender inequality and identity--- we could all just take sudsy, flower-smelling showers. Gender studies, on the other hand, reminds us that neoliberal systems (the cultural and economic system where money is God) and liberation are NOT conjoined twins. As a point of fact, by 2001, Dove products gave Unilever—the company which made Dove--- the edge over Procter & Gamble’s soap products, the company which had been America's leading soap maker since 1991. In 2001 alone, Dove’s worldwide sales exceeded $1 billion. So when you see new, extravagant soap commercials aimed at “empowering” women, just know that Dove is merely trying to outsell their biggest competition: Procter & Gamble's Olay products.[1] Like many companies, Dove’s newest marketing experts have certainly moved past images of overly sexualized women; nevertheless, a research project celebrating this megabrand’s commercials does more work for selling soap than for empowering someone. Gender studies pushes you to critique such representations of women and gender equity that come with the selling of commercial products and a kind of automated reaction to go out and buy stuff that can make you “feel good.” Besides these neoliberal preoccupations with soap, another very troubling trend was also quite evident: the white students did not talk to or engage with the one Latina at all. It was as if she was completely invisible! Gender studies teaches you to do better than that also. You simply cannot call yourself someone who is interested in women’s rights, gender, sexuality, or feminism if women of color remain invisible to you. Just as troubling, since these students can mimick and produce the kind of prose and argumentation that patriarchal, western norms of schooling privilege, they will undoubtedly move forward with their academic careers and be allowed to fake the funk on a consciousness they simply do not have. You, on the other hand, came to this class with a social justice and intellectual interest in gender so be prepared to take that all of the way. Though many critique the way that gender studies is too big because it seeks to critique every form of domination and oppression, this emancipatory aspect of gender studies is most interesting. Therefore, this class approaches gender studies using the infamous words of Fannie Lou Hamer, Civil Rights activist and grassroots organizer: "Until I Am Free, You Are Not Free Either" (this is the title of a speech she gave at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in January 1971 which she opens by explaining why she always tells it like it is). Let’s do gender studies in a way that moves us towards FREEDOM in the Fannie Lou Hamer tradition!

[1] Barnes, J. (22 July 2001). “The Making (or possible breaking) of a megabrand.” New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/22/business/the-making-or-possible-breaking-of-a-megabrand.html